The chief of Justice of The Gibraltar Courts Service, A.E. Dudley, has ordered a global freeze of $6 million (£5 million / €5.7 million) on all assets of the former CEO of Mansion Casino after Karel Christian Mañasco was found guilty of conducting numerous accounts of fraud during his tenure as a chief executive officer of the casino.
Karel Christian Mañasco started working for Mansion back in 2010, and after just two years he became the CFO (chief financial officer) of the casino. After spending five years as the CFO, in January 2017 Mañasco was then appointed as the new CEO of Mansion Casino, a position he held until September 2021 when the scandal about committing numerous fraudulent activities broke out.
More specifically, it all started after Mansion Casino, located in Gibraltar, started a disciplinary inquiry into the actions of Mañasco for breaching his duties during his tenure. Consequently, this prompted the former CEO to resign from the position as a chief executive officer just 3 months after the start of the investigation, or in December 2021.
And the revelations made by Mansion during the investigation were simply put, shocking. One of the things Mansion revealed was that Mañasco has made two payments of €2.5 million ($2.6 million / £2.2 million) and £127.073 to a certain company located in the Marshal Islands called White Wizard Media that hasn’t provided any services, nor has any ties with Mansion Casino.
Moreover, as per Mansion, the former CEO also rewarded himself with hefty bonuses of £427.500 and £327.033 during the 2019/2020 fiscal years. In addition to these two bonuses, Mañasco has issued himself £66.237 in the form of a personal allowance, which according to Mansion were payments he wasn’t approved to receive.
And it doesn’t end there. Mansion also claims that Mañasco purchased four expensive vehicles for his personal pleasure which setback the casino 192.140, in addition to purchasing two luxury watches worth £21.876, and £91.935, respectively. According to Mansion, none of the luxury items were accounted for and as such, weren’t beneficial to the casino whatsoever.
In addition to the unaccounted spending and self-appointed bonuses, Mañasco also failed to take necessary measures to comply with regulatory directions issued by the Gibraltar gambling authority, which consequently resulted in the regulator fining Mansion 850.000 in a court settlement. Yet, this is not all.
Mañasco is also accused of racking a whopping £249.951 in credit card expenditures for his own personal expenses, £71.931 for rent, legal fees, and additional personal expenses, as well as £14.756 for purchasing a domain name which according to Mansion, was for his own personal benefit.
Naturally, Mañasco denies all accusations, claiming that everything he did was legal. According to the official legal statement of the former CEO, as a chief executive officer, he had the authority to approve every transaction of the company and everything he did he did in the interest of Mansion, thus denying that he is guilty of fraud.
Yet, this doesn’t seem to do much in the eyes of the law, since in the court of Gibraltar, he was still found guilty of financial malversation. Consequently, this resulted in the chief of The Gibraltar Court Service, A.E. Dudley to order a hefty £5 million order to globally freeze all of the assets of Mañasco.
Needless to state the obvious, Mañasco said that he doesn’t agree with the ruling, and due to this, he will further contest the ruling of the court in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence and clear his name. However, given the substantial evidence stacked against him, it seems like his appeal will only be a mere legal formality, and nothing more.
